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Chilli cheesy pasta

Today, as I’m writing this, it has rained, non-stop, all day. Even my roof is leaking because of it! 😩 so this evening I decided we need cheesy, carb-y comfort food to warm us up!

This meal is quick, easy and uses stuff you usually have in at home anyway. It’s the lovechild of your standard chilli recipe and a cheesy pasta bake! Something that gives you the spicy kick but with pasta instead of rice as an accompaniment. Nothing fancy about it at all!

You’ll need:

An onion and a few cloves of garlic, chopped up

250g beef mince

Cans of beans (I used red kidney and cannelloni)

1 can chopped tomatos

Around 800-900mls chicken stock

Red pepper (not essential but nice)

1.5 tsp cumin

1-2 tsp chilli flakes (depends how hot you like it 🌶🌶🌶)

300g pasta – I used conchiglie, but whatever you like

Salt & pepper to taste

Cheddar cheese – as much as you want to add!

Parsley for serving

Fry the onion, garlic and beef mince in a few glugs of olive oil, until slightly brown. Add the pepper for a few extra minutes. Then add the cans of beans, tomatoes, chicken stock and spices. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then get it to a simmer for a few minutes.

Add in your pasta and let it bubble away until the pasta has softened. Then take it off the heat and throw your cheese on top.

I got beers to go with it – Aldi now do bottled ales for a quid each!? Amazing.

All in all, this took around 25 minutes, so it was perfect for a lazy rainy day. This made 2 large portions and plenty of left-overs for the fridge. Pretty much everything was bought from Aldi as well – so it’s good for the pocket as well as the soul 😉

We have also made an amazing Mediterranean pasta recipe recently so we’ll be posting that soon!